The newest member of the Perry Tribe is here! Little “A” was due to be induced on July 23 because of a rare pregnancy condition called Cholestasis. After having a perfect pregnancy, at week 32, I was diagnosed with ICP. It was a scary few weeks as I changed my diet to low fat, low carb, low sugar and began taking medication to treat the symptoms of itchy hands and feet and upper right quadrant pain from my liver and gal bladder. Still-birth rates go up by 15% if untreated, so although it was a scary diagnosis and I had to start going in weekly, I knew that blood draws, non stress tests, and biophysical ultrasounds were there to keep an eye out for both our health.
Additionally, I began experiencing debilitating sciatica the last three weeks of pregnancy due to her position, posterior. The usual exercises I did my previous pregnancy were too painful to even try. I had been going to a chiropractor since week 28 for the Webster’s Technique but that wasn’t changing anything. The week before the induction date I decided to try a prenatal massage and that gave me some relief but only for a day or two.
The day before my induction I checked off all the things I needed from my list to get done: finding childcare for the other kiddos during Covid; finding alternative housing for a while after baby so I wouldn’t have to deal with recovery RV living; shopping for essentials like snacks and toiletries, and postpartum care products. I also had my last prenatal chiropractic visit and prenatal massage. The massage therapist really worked those pressure points for inducing labor. I also took red raspberry leaf tea, primrose evening oil, and these homeopathic tablets Caulophyllum and Cimicifuga for inducing labor regularly.
That night, we had the kids check into the hotel with grandma and I had left all the stuff for me and baby to come to after the birth. We had our last date (first date since April- thanks Covid) as a couple, parents of four. Before arriving to our dinner date I was feeling uncomfortable, and by the time we ordered I was not hungry and was distracted by the contractions I was experiencing. I ordered a humus dish because everything else looked too heavy. At the end of the date I decided that it might be time to start finding my contraction app to start timing them.
Around 10 pm we began making the hour and a half drive to the hospital. The contractions were coming in every 3-4 minutes and lasting 1-2 minutes long. They were coming with a fury like none other. I threw up about 20 minutes before getting to the hospital and was so glad it had only been humus and carrots (yuck). The contractions subsided after that. I was disappointed to hear that I was only 1cm when I was checked upon arrival. They gave me some IV fluids and had a difficult time finding the baby’s heart beat steadily because she was in the posterior position. They finally let us sleep around 2 am. At 4 am I started feeling good deep contractions again as I slept. That morning around 8 am or 9 am they checked me again and I was up to 4cm dialated. Yay! We decided to get my membranes stripped and wait until at least noon, when it was supposed to have been induction time before doing any other intervention. Around 1 pm my water broke and we decided that since my body was dialating on it’s own we did not need the mito and went for the pitocin at a very low dose of 2. This whole time Lowell had Dr. Pimple Popper on the TV and was making me laugh and stay distracted with his commentary and funny faces.
Around 5 pm was when I was in ‘active’ labor. I was having intense back pain so I took the epidural offered to me. I have given birth three times already with back labor and had nothing to prove this time around- give me them drugs! I was checked and was at 6 cm. When it came time to push I tried turning on my side because there was the cervical lip in the way (as it usually does with my back labors). As soon as I turned I felt this excruciating pain- which I likened to what scalping someone must have felt like, but in my left inner pelvic region. I lasted a minute like that before they turned me back. Once checked again, the baby had flipped and the cervical lip was gone. I can only conclude the baby had been resting on that side of my pelvis, keeping the epidural from reaching that spot, my sciatic nerve area…
After that ‘hiccup’ I was back in the game. I was ready to push and did so for 17 minutes. I ended up pushing her lying on my left side, one leg raised. I got to watch her coming out with a mirror they placed in front of me. Pushing her out was the easy part (crazy, right). She was so tiny, there was no ring of fire and no problem pushing her out. My body is used to passing 9 and 10 lb babies out.
Baby ‘A’ was born at 10:02pm. She weighed 7.0 lbs, 19.5in long. Healthy and strong. She is a fierce little female who called her own shots as to when she would begin her arrival. She is a sweet mellow newborn and I am loving this postpartum time getting to bond with her. She is loved and adored by her siblings and will make a fine addition to the Perry Tribe.
